PTC9: World Finalists Through To Last 16

Day two of the professional stages of the PTC9 event from Antwerp today and it was a good day for this year’s Crucible finalists John Higgins and Judd Trump who were among the eight to progress. Click below for more…

First man through to the last 16 this evening was reigning world champion John Higgins who saw off Matt Couch, Ashley Wright and then old rival Ken Doherty to progress. Tomorrow he will meet Mike Dunn in the first televised match of the after after Mike recorded impressive wins against Mark Williams, Jimmy Robertson and Jamie Cope. Lying outside of the provisional top 48 coming into this event, Dunn has delivered his best run of the season at just the right time to lift himself back up into that bracket at the time of writing.

The winner could well face Judd Trump after the China Open champion defeated Martin O’Donnell and Craig Steadman before somehow coming through a thriller with Jimmy White this evening to stay in the competition. At times during the latter match it looked like Judd would be heading home but crucial misses from Jimmy in frames three and six would eventually cost the Whirlwind dear and Trump was able to squeeze through.

Next up for him will be a match with Leicester’s Tom Ford, who picked up from where he left off in Gloucester earlier in the week with David Grace, Rory McLeod and Fergal O’Brien.

It was not such a good day for another man from Leicester however as world number one Mark Selby slipped to a 4-1 defeat against Andy Hicks, his second defeat against a player who will shortly be undertaking a parachute jump for various charities. Anyone wishing to sponsor Andy please contact me at my usual email address or by leaving a comment here.

Andy will now meet Martin Gould who consolidated his position inside the top 16 with victories against Joe Swail, Paul Davison and Dominic Dale.

Finally through are Aditya Mehta and Matthew Stevens who will meet tomorrow for a place in the quarter-finals. Well done to Aditya in particular who withstood a strong comeback from Mark Joyce earlier in the day before eventually winning a decider.

Sickner for Jimmy but he has been there before! How he managed to lose from the positions he was in, only he will ever know. Trump was beat and Jimmy just managed to give the match back to him several times. Sad for Jimmy as he has persevered for many seasons to get back in the top 48 and this last week he may have just thrown away a few hundred points that may make the difference. Results for this PTC going SD’s way with very few players outside the top 28 making progress deep into the event. Looks like most of the top players will be in the last 8. Just ROS trying to salvage some big points to get ahead of Mark Davis in battle for top 16. I think SD will face a Ronnie who has to do well in UK!

dannyboy

A great PTC event. Money is an issue but in reality the match practice is improving the standards of all players. And if you look at the top guys they are earning good money from 9 events so far. £2K for 3 days work aint bad. The top 4 will be nearly £30K each for 12 events by the end which is ok money these days. I think having three times as much money and only having four events which could be worked in the Europe venues would lead to £30K firts prize money and £5K for losing quarter finalists. But in reality the players who lose in the first two rounds consistently would still not earn any money. Isnt that the reality for all sports – the lower end of the tour should not be guaranteed an easy living otherwise they become happy with second best.

Getting back to the tir – is ROS really only the 17th best player in the world? For me he is still in a league of his own and the idea of Mark Davis and a few others keeping him in the qualifiers is a huge worry given that when ROS turns up only he can determine the outcome. With a win in the final he goes back in to 16th place.

Nige

Well done to Judd – his potting at the end was sublime. However even more to stick in the throat of Jimmy White – it could have been him competing in the latter stages but as it was yet another example of how only he can chuck matches away.

dannyboy

Great match. ROS is mesmorising to watch. His weight of shot and the cue ball floating around the table is a contrast to Judd who pots like the whirlwind did 30 years ago. Great to share with my boy – thats how Jimmy use to play – not sure he could believe it having watched Jimmy last night. Great match and Ronnie looks good again. What will be even more fun is going to York to see if a certain 54 year old can compete with the greatest talent who is close to his best. Cant wait, Steve I can sense your building for it already…Sunday 4th December first to 6 frames – it may be a quick kill or it may just be another 97 performance – cant remember Steve but didnt you win 6 frames on the trot then?